Senior Manager, Software Engineering - AI Innovation

Role

Senior Manager, Software Engineering on the Advanced Technology Activation Team (AT‑AT) in the Innovation Team. Lead a high-performing engineering organization to design, build, and deliver scalable, cloud-native and AI-enabled applications and services that drive business outcomes for guests, associates, and franchisees.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and develop engineering teams (including managers) and own delivery excellence across architecture, design, implementation, code reviews, automated testing, and production readiness.
• Be hands-on when needed to accelerate outcomes: design and build POCs, facilitate Vibe Coding sessions, and create Spec‑to‑Code demonstrations.
• Plan and execute domain roadmaps; evaluate emerging tools and map technical choices to business outcomes.
• Embed AI across the software lifecycle (AI‑DLC) to improve speed, quality, resilience, developer experience, and cost.
• Ensure operational excellence through monitoring, alerting, SLOs/SLIs, error budgets, incident readiness/response, and post-incident learning.
• Drive security and compliance (including PCI/SOX considerations) via policy-as-code and automated checks.
• Provide program and portfolio leadership for multiple complex initiatives with cross-functional partners (Product, Architecture, PMO, Business stakeholders).
• Influence standards, reference architectures, reusable components, and guardrails; champion design patterns, quality metrics, and automation.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, or related discipline required; Master’s preferred.
• 8+ years building high-volume, mission-critical applications; 5+ years technical leadership; 2+ years people management.
• Proven experience delivering secure, scalable, highly available systems and modern architectures.
• Strong command of SDLC and agile practices (coding standards, reviews, source control, CI/CD, testing, operations) and experience embedding AI into the lifecycle (AI‑DLC).
• Proficiency in one or more modern stacks: Java/JVM (e.g., Spring Boot), Python (Streamlit, FastAPI, FASTMCP), or TypeScript/Next.js (React, server components, edge/runtime).
• Experience with RESTful and event-driven architectures, SQL & NoSQL databases, and distributed data design.
• Strong communication, stakeholder management, mentoring ability, and demonstrated competencies in strategic planning, collaboration, and technical excellence.

Team

Reports to the Senior Director, Enterprise Architecture. Role has direct reports and works closely with Product, Architecture, PMO, and business stakeholders.

Why Join

Work on generative AI, cloud-native platforms, and agent-based architectures; lead POCs, Vibe Coding, and Spec-to-Code demonstrations to transform the SDLC and deliver measurable business impact.

Benefits (selected)

• Competitive compensation and benefits
• Medical, dental, and vision coverage
• Paid time off for holidays, vacation, personal, family, volunteer, sick, jury duty, bereavement, military, and religious observance
• Retirement and health savings benefits
• Employee recognition programs
• Discounts at Choice hotels worldwide